the self-same spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 11. and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness c. Shall I need to subjoyn what you may perhaps already sense and consider That Baptism is to be ministred in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as well as in the name of the Father Mat. 28.19 Prop. 4. God the Father then is not cannot be so the object of prayer as is exclusive either of God the Son or of God the Holy Ghost 1 For the Son It is manifest that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Joh. 5.23 If you 'l review the last prayer of that lively Protomartyr Steven it is directed hither They stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Act. 7.59 He that runs may read the same requests from the beloved Disciple of Christ and from his bride the Church which conclude our Bibles Come come Lord Jesus c. Rev. 22.17 20 21. Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom is the only recorded prayer of the penitent thief upon the Cross Luk. 23.42 43. Paul begins well-nigh every Epistle with prayers to him as well as to the Father Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.2 c. And is followed herein both by John and Peter 2 Joh. 3.2 2 Pet. 1.2 In short this is given us as the character of all true Christians 1 Cor. 1.2 Act. 9.14 With all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Observe it is not said That call upon the name of the Lord through Jesus Christ though this is no doubt their duty and his due as being the Mediator It lets us see that his Saints look upon him not only as a middle person through whom they pray unto God but as true and very God to whom they make their prayers 2 For the Holy Ghost We are debters in point of prayer to him as he also deriveth all our grace and peace to us We are debters saith the Apostle not to the flesh but to the spirit and this not only to live after the spirit but to lift up our hearts with our hands to him in spirit and truth O come saith the Psalmist let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God c. Psal 95.6 7 8. The Apostle maketh application of this part of the Psalm to the Holy Ghost Heb. 3.7 8 c. External and internal worship is due then from us to God the Holy Ghost The reason which the Psalmist gives us reach him as well as the other persons He is the Lord our God he made us and not we our selves The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the almighty hath given me life The inspiration of the almighty hath given me understanding Job 33.4 c. 32.8 Know ye not saith Paul that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost Which he elsewhere maketh synonimous with being the temples of God What then Therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods and therefore glorifie God the Holy Ghost So that inward and outward worship not only may but must be given to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 20. c. 3.16 17. The Saints of God have offered him therefore their prayers of petition see instances Prop. 3. and the Seraphims do offer him their prayers of praise and thanksgiving Crying holy holy holy Lord God almighty which with express warrant enough is interpretable to the Holy Ghost and not to be limited to one or both the other persons Isa 6.3 9. with Act. 28.25 26. Shall I add more evidence where there is so much already Lo 1. The objective fundamental and formal ground of prayer is found with the Son and with the Holy Ghost as well as with the Father Is the Father God so is the Son God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 And the Holy Ghost is called God not less than three times in one Scripture 1 Cor. 3.16 17. I forbear ampler testimonies because you acknowledg this fundamental truth Is the Father an omnipresent majesty pray we where we will so is the Son also Hear him Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 So likewise is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy spirit saith the Psalmist i.e. I can go no whither but thy spirit is with me Psal 139.7 Is the Father an omnipotent mercy pray we for what we will he is able to hear and help us So also is the Son the mighty God the almighty Isa 9.6 Rev. 1.7 8. And so likewise is the Holy Ghost All these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 Briefly is the Father omniscient knowing what we pray for how we pray what are the purposes of and what principles are at act in our hearts and in what proportion and when it is best to answer our prayers and to accommodate our desires and distresses So is the Son he knoweth what is in man the very heart and reins he knoweth all things Joh. 2.24 25. c. 21.17 Rev. 2.23 And so also is the Holy Ghost he searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12. 2. For the object of faith Is it the Father only Nay so is God the Son and God the Holy Ghost And if the object of faith then of prayer also Rom. 10.14 Mat. 28.19 That the Son is the object of faith seems to require little or no proof with him that believes the Scriptures Since they were written to this very end that we might believe in the name of the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 1 Joh. 5.13 And he that disbelieveth or denieth this disbelieveth or denieth the Father also 1 Joh. 2.22 23 24. Here was the blessed faith of Peter the rock the bottom or foundation upon which the Church is built Mat. 16.16 17 18. Hitherto also our blessed Saviour calleth his Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 The Holy Ghost is the object of faith likewise I believe in the Holy Ghost is one and an eminent article of the true Creed of Christians Plain it is that the wisdom of the Spirit is the wisdom of God the power of the Spirit is the power of God the testimony of the Spirit is the testimony of God And if we may and should believe the witness of men much more the witness of God for the witness of God is greater It is the Spirit who is one God with the Father and with the Son that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth and therefore to be believed relied upon as the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 2.1 4 5. 1 Joh. 5.6 7 9. He that believeth not in the Spirit then believeth not in
oppress Briefly what or whence those secret inward records of what you have declined and done and suitable inclinations and recalls thereof to your hearts especially when death or some notable distress is come upon you or coming on What I say are all or any of these but the exertings and acts and therefore evidences and arguments of that spirit or conscience in man which is the candle of the Lord searching the innermost parts of the Belly Prov. 20.27 3. Will you confer with such who never heard of Christ or have read the Scriptures Read their written Confessions or review the workings of their Consciences There are few things that more fully or frequently occur in their Writings than the presence and power of Conscience in every man which God say they hath given to every one (a) Consciamens ut cuique sua est ita concipit intra Pectora pro facto spemque metumque suo Ovid. Fastor l. 1. s p. 2. as his deputy and for their direction over-rule and over-sight (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl That from this is no subterfuge nothing latent (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocrat ad Demonic Nunquam fides latendi fit etiam latentibus quia coarguit illos conscientia ipsos sibi ostendit Senec. Epist 97. That its Testimony is of all others the strongest (d) Conscientia mille testes Turpe quid acturus te sine teste time Consciamens recti famae mendacia ridet Ovid. Fastor l. 1. Magna vis est conscientiae judicis magna in utramque partem Vt neque timeant qui nihil commiserint paenam semper ante oculos versari putent qui peccâ—rint Cicer. pro Milon its tranquility sweetest (e) Hic murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi nullâ pallescere culpâ Horat. l. 1. Epist 1. Conscientia rectae voluntatis maxima consolatio rerum incommodarum Cicer. Epist tam. 4. l. 6. Nullâ re tam laetart soleo quà m officiorum meorum conscientiâ Id. Quae etiâ—m obruta delectat quae concioniâ— ac famae reelomat in se omnia reponit cum ingentem ex altera purte turbam contra-sentientium aspexit non numerat suffragia sed unsâ— sententiâ vincit Sen. de Benef. l. 4. c. 21. Licet ipsum Corpus plenum bonâ conscientiâ stillet placebit illi ignis per quem bona fides coâ—â—ucebit Id. ibid. its torments sharpest They therefore abundantly counsel man to study his own Conscience (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tecum habita Pers Sat. 4. Nec te quaesiveris extra Pers Sat. 1. and affectionately complain that men search not into but slight their own Consciences (h) Vt nemo in se tentat descendere nemo Persius Sat. 4. As for the workings of their Consciences that of the Apostle is written (f) Nihil est miserius quà m animus hominis conscius Plaut Occultum quatiente animum tortore flagellum Mens sibi conscia facti Praemetuens adhibet stimulos torretque flagellis Luer Poena autem vehemens multò saevior illis quos Caeditius gravis invenit Rhadamanthus Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectorâ—-testem Juven as with a Sun-beam in their life as well as his Letters The Gentiles which have not the Law are a Law to themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness or their Consciences witnessing with them and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Rom. 2.14 15. 'T is true we commonly say such and such are of no Conscience or have lost all Conscience But this is and must be understood with reference had rather to the quality than to the faculty i.e. they are of no good or honest Conscience or as Conscience is considered in act rather than in habit they have lost their Conscience as we say men have lost their reason i. e. the free and uninterrupted use of it And it is true also that there are who have made shipwrack of all good Conscience that have seared their Consciences and that there are such whom God hath justly given over to a reprobate and remorsless Conscience cannot be denied 1 Tim. 1.19 Rom. 1.28 But Conscience it self ceaseth not though such qualities may cease or are changed Conscience is not destroyed when defiled 't is Conscience though contemned Tit. 1.15 1 Tim. 4.2 We find the arrests and acts of Conscience even among the damned the devils Mat. 8.29 Mar. 9.44 So that there is a Conscience universally in all and cannot utterly be extinct in any * See D. Taylor Ductor Dubitan 1 l. 1. ru.n. x. 5.6 7. Even they that say unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy ways are not therein without the evident self-reflections of an evil and seared Conscience Job 21.14 15. Q. 2. There being a Conscience in every man implanted by God how ought every man to imploy his Conscience in order to God Though Conscience be under the Sovereign command and of the sole Creation of God yet hath he substituted every man to be the keeper of his own Conscience under him and must surrender an account thereof to him Prov. 4.23 Mal. 2.15 Rom. 14.12 And if God hath implanted in every man a Conscience then every man should imploy his Conscience 1. In the behalf of God who hath made both them and it for himself Isa 43.7 Prov. 16.4 And so in pursuance of his holy inclinations furthering his supream Government in promoting his holy interest vindicating his sovereign glory in patronage of his holy image forwarding serious godliness in propugning his holy intentions and institutions frustrating in what they may the strong hopes and oppositions of his enemies sin the world and satan 2. As before God who as he made the Conscience will assuredly manifest the counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4.5 'T is good to mind her often of her original and of his omniscience which will both quicken her to her employment and keep her from extreams Yea 't is necessary that all the acts of Conscience and of you toward Conscience be done as before the all-seeing Creator lest they lose their efficacy and authority upon you and you lose your end and attempts upon her whose pravity is so desperate and policies are so deep Rom. 2.15 Jer. 17.9 10. Psal 64.6 Let her often know from you that God who created and implanted her hath a most intuitive knowledg therefore of her and all her intrigues lye open to him Wo to her if she would hide counsel from him Psal 9.4.7 12. Heb. 4.13 Is 29.15 16. 3. In the business appointed her of God Look what are those offices which he hath deposited with her and see that neither you nor she decline them Look what are those operations which he hath designed by her and see that she do them and that you accordingly demean your selves toward
it self evil as in the Polygamy of the Patriarchs And should not this power be good whose power is so great both for evil and for good 5. From the Principles it owneth 1. In Nature Doth not even Nature it self teach me that my Conscience be good whatsoever pains it cost me or whatever be the persecutions from men wherewith it may be consequenced The very Heathens have therefore prescribed means and pressed motives 2. In Grace how much more am I taught to exercise my self herein and engage my self hereunto by all the principles of godliness and by all the Promises of the Gospel 6. From the Offices it is to perform Can my Conscience do well if it be evil do not its Offices for God require that it be holy and good Conscience hath the office of 1. A Minister and is therefore obliged to be good a bad Minister being the worst of Men there is little hopes of its ministring good unless it be a good Minister 2. Of a Magistrate who should be most eminently and exemplarily good and a Minister to thee for good 3. Of a Witness 4. And of a Judg which must be good or they will do evil do evil themselves and not deliver Souls from extremity and injustice 3ly Direct 3 Apply you to the Causes of a good Conscience The Causes improved the effect will ensue These are principal or less principal 1 The Principal is God Every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of Lights The good Conscience is from the God of Conscience The God that made thy Conscience can alone make thy Conscience good Acknowledg him then in all thy ways and he shall direct thy paths Ask of him by prayer and strong crys as David did Thou art good and dost good teach me thy Statutes Incline my heart to thy Testimonies Let my heart be sound in thy Statutes Create in me a clean heart O God Jam. 1.17 Psal 119.36 68 80. 1. It proceedeth from the good-will of the Father The Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding 'T is He that putteth Wisdom in the inward parts and giveth Understanding to the Heart Press thy Heart to consider it and plead with him in Supplication who delights to be urged with the liberousness of his own acts of Grace and giveth liberally to him that asketh Job 32.8 c. 38.36 Jam. 1.5 2. It is procured by the great worth of the Son who was made sin for us to take sin from us and in the likeness of sinful flesh by a sacrifice for sin hath condemned sin in the flesh and so brings us to God 2 Cor. 5.21 1 Joh. 3.5 Rom. 8.3 marg 1 Pet. 3.18 The good Conscience costs no less price than the Blood of God the Blood of Christ was shed that the besmeared Conscience might be sprinkled and purged for the peculiar service of God Act. 20.28 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Heb. 10.22 c. 9.4 Apply then the meritorious and medicinal vertue that is in the Blood of Christ for cure of those maladies and bruises that are in thy Conscience Apply it by an hand of Faith make it thine Put thou on the Lord Jesus Christ Bring it down to thy case let this Blood be sprinkled on thy Conscience apply it in ardent prayer come unto God by him present his Merit with thy malignity to Divine mercy Plead his worthiness in thy unworthiness his stripes for thy healing the righteousness of Christ for the renovation of thy Conscience Pursue thy petitions upon the price he hath paid 3. It is produced by the gracious work of the Spirit If Conscience be spiritual and gracious it comes from the spirit of Grace if pure if holy 't is by the power of the Holy Ghost 'T is carnal till the Spirit comes never spiritual till born of the Spirit It is the spirit of life which sets it free from the law of sin and death Joh. 3.5 Rom. 15.13 16. Rom. 8.2 What Evangelical Truths are imprinted on the good Conscience they are of the Spirit 's writing 2 Cor. 3.3 What Evangelical Testimony is imparted by the good Conscience 't is of the Spirit 's working of his working for us who also witnesseth therewith in us Rom. 8.15 c. 9.1 Put not off the Spirit then in its motions and essays upon you which he maketh ply to him with all diligence and dearness put him not off with delays much less shouldst thou provoke him with a denial Let Steven speak why the Jews were uncircumcised in heart Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost Act. 7.51 Rather pray in the Spirit which God hath promised to pour out And who knows but Beggars may be blest in that branch of the Promises of his Grace I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Prov. 1.23 Luk. 11.13 Ezek. 36.27 2 The less principal Causes are 1. an operative faith and love within you 2. the ordinances for faith and love without you 1. Let there be an operative faith and love within you These like Judah and Simeon his Brother come up into each others lots to subdue the Canaanites and set right the Conscience Let there be Charity out of a pure heart and Faith unfeigned and thou canst not be left without a good Conscience which the Apostle lodgeth in the midst of these as the Tabernacle of the Congregation was in the midst of the Camp Judg. 1.3 1 Tim. 1.5 Numb 2.17 Both of them have a blessed operation and tendency first to purifie then to pacifie the Conscience Of which hereafter 2. Live in the Ordinances for Faith and Love Be much in Praying Hearing Reading Meditation Conference the end of all these Commandments of God is to make thy Conscience good Cry after him and continue in them for this end make God's end thy errand to them and your heart shall live that seek God 1 Tim. 1.5 Psal 69.32 You wrong your own Souls that wave the Ordinances of our Saviour How many an evil Conscience hath been healed and cured by them How many a bad Conscience have been made good and how many a good Conscience have been made better The way is as open to you as it was to them follow God in them forsake not the ways of his Gospel you shall know if you follow on to know the Lord. Continue at the gates of Wisdom come for Wisdom to her gates and thou shalt not come off a loser yea if thou criest after knowledg and liftest up thy voice for understanding If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God Prov. 8.33 ad finem Hos 6.3 Prov. 2.1 6. 4. Attend Conscience throughout Direct 4 If Conscience be not good throughly 't is not good truly See that this goodness go throughout Conscience To this is requisite 1. a right apprehension of
suggested but search the Scriptures as our Saviour bespeaks thee whether they be marks and what marks or of what they so be 1 Joh. 4.1 Joh. 5.39 Try whether it be a mark that Conscience tenders thee for this trial Is she not ravisht with a strange woman and imbraceth the bosom of a stranger Happily thou countest those things marks which thou shouldst rather call thy mistakes If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself Gal. 6.3 He may and shall deceive his own heart that deduceth his arguments but from the semblances and appearances of Religion But he that argueth from the inseperable properties of Religion puts himself thereby beyond that peril of a self-deception Jam. 1.26 Bring the sign or mark then thou wouldst try thy estate by to the scales and touch-stone of the Scriptures Press Conscience to answer these three Questions 1. Is this mark found upon all that are in the state of Salvation Because the particular guises and affections of some individual persons are found upon me I cannot thence prove that I am a Man if I would cogently argue it I must evince it from such affections as are common to the whole kind 'T is as great an impotence and oversight to conclude my peace and salvation from communicating in the characters of some particular Christians My enquiries should be rather after such Characters as do agree to all that are indeed and throughout Christians They urge perhaps from the singular examples of some saved ones as if they had obtained some signal evidence for Heaven having arrived to that height unto which but few did attain Mat. 7.22 Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name east out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works But our Saviour neither admits the plea nor accepts the persons ver 23. And teacheth us to fetch our Evidences not from the singular priviledges of some numerical Saints but from that spirit of obedience which runs through the veins of all Saints and is inseparable from any that are saved ver 21. The Proposition had need be universal As Peace be to all them that are in Christ Jesus By him all that believe are justified Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life c. 1 Pet. 5.14 Act. 13.39 Joh. 3.15 16. 2. Is this mark found only upon such as are in an estate of Salvation I cannot prove that this is a Man from any such part or principle as is common to a brute with him My proofs must pitch upon what is proper to Mankind He is a Rational Creature therefore a Man For Man only is that Creature upon Earth which is endowed with Reason It would be as great a weakness to argue my title to Heaven from any such qualifications as are common even to them that shall be thrust into Hell The Apostle therefore noteth it as a vain and empty crack in those solifidians Jam. 2.14 c. that they insisted barely upon believing and thence infer'd their Blessedness and Salvation whereas the Devils might put in a claim upon this account to the Heavenly Kingdom as well if not more than they if a faith without works might be admitted for an evidence For the Devils also believe and tremble ver 19. Though Paul spake with tongues more than they all who took those and other such gifts as evidences of Salvation yet he thinks fit to tell them Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have the gift of Prophesie and understand all mysteries and all knowledg and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity the discriminating character of the devout and thorough Christian I am nothing 1 Cor. 14.18 c. 13.1 2. So then the mark which Conscience singleth out to discuss and determine your estate by must be proper to and which is alone predicable of the sincere and saved ones of God Not such a disposition wherein hypocrites may partake with you It was by this Job defended his Integrity and defeated the accusations of his enemies Will the hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty Will he always call upon God And our Saviour's question will be What do you more than others Do not even the Publicans the same And he strictly concludeth Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Job 27.6 11. Mat. 5.46 47. 20. 3. Is this mark convertible i.e. Are all they upon whom this mark is found in a saving estate And have all that are in a saving estate this mark found upon them Right Properties are reciprocally predicable of the Subjects whose Properties they are All that are saved are hearers of the Word But all that are hearers of the Word are not saved This they did deliberate and so deceived themselves Jam. 1.22 See then that you be doers of the word and not hearers only All they that are such shall be saved and all that shall be saved are such Rom. 2.13 Luk. 11.28 Whosoever are in a state of Salvation do profess special dearness to and devotion for the Lord and Saviour But whosoever profess this are not therefore in a state of Salvation This they did not attend and so abused themselves Mat. 7.21 22 23. Luk. 13.24 28. The propriety between Christ and the Church is mutual My beloved is mine and I am his The promise is mutual I will say thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God Cant. 2.16 Hos 2.23 See that the Proposition upon which you proceed will be such too that the terms will reciprocate As the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe And all that believe are interested in this righteousness The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him in truth And all they that call upon him in truth are nigh unto the Lord Rom. 3.22 Psal 145.18 Would you but improve these rules in and for the trial of those marks in the review of which you are to make trial of your estates the deceitful evidences whereby multitudes unto themselves would soon disappear and no more stand before the discussion of Conscience than the dust which is easily driven before the wind 2. Treasure up these marks in order to the trial of thy self Make Conscience the sacred Repository of such marks and rules Or if Memory be this Closet and Repository let Conscience be sure to keep the Key Besides the advantages which thou shalt hereby reap for a solemn self-examination they will suggest matter of self-reflection and inward self-converses in the several lines and periods of thy Secular Negotiations Bind them continually upon thine heart and tye them about thy neck When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk
a while instead of finding peace grow past feeling Exod. 8.8 cum 15 28. cum 32. Dan. 5.60.29 30. Act. 24.25 cum 27. And will you call this peace of Conscience which is a proeme rather of eternal condemnation This is not the spirit of peace but a spirit of slumber * See Perkins vol. 1. p. 368. 5. Prop. 5 Eminent troubles of Conscience now past cannot then infer the truth of your present peace as neither can that ease and tranquility which you now possess of which Q. 1. But that those exigencing perplexities â—ay issue in Evangelical peace there is enjoyned the intercurrence of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 which these troubles are intended as disâ—ositive and preparatory and without which â—ere is no enjoyment of this Divine peace The Jews were pricked in their heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The nail was driven to the very â—â—d The iron entred into their very souls The Jaylor is filled with perplexing troubles he trembles and falls prostrate before Paul and Silas Both he and they cry out for direction What shall we do The Apostles who well knew there might be a spirit of bondage which is never consequenced with a spirit of Adoption never advise them these agonies are enough you may sit down in peace but press upon them the necessity and use of faith and repentance as prerequisities to their salvation and peace Act. 2.37 38. c. 16.29 30 31. Rom. 8.15 6. Prop. 6 Examine then how thou camest out of these perplexing troubles and how thou camest by this tranquility and peace 1. Didst thou arrive hereto in the Gospel method What hast thou found or now findest of the Gospel-prerequisites to peace faith in Christ and repentance from dead works What hast thou felt or now feelest of the Gospel-power or efficacy in order to peace The Gospel first proclaims war in the Soul against Sin the World and Satan then publisheth peace in dethroning these usurpers upon God's Soveraign Prerogative and the powers of our Souls The Gospel first preacheth the grace of God to us and in us and then peace with God unto us First purifying the Conscience by the graces of his Spirit and then pacifying it in the grace of his favour The Gospel first carries back the Soul to the God of Peace in an Evangelical conversion then chears the Soul with this peace of God in Evangelical consolations First hints the Soul unto Christ in all his offices of peace for us unto all obedience then quiets the Soul in the peace that he hath obtained for us and ordereth out unto us by his holy Spirit In short the Gospel first changeth the Soul into the resemblance and image of God then and not till then comforteth it by a review of its interest in God and of God's in him Rom. 8.5 6 7. c. 1.7 Heb. 9.14 Hos 6.1 Isa 9.6 7. 1 Thes 5.23 Psal 4.8 2 Is it accompanied with a Gospel-mould With an unfeigned and universal change of thy heart and life into the likeness of the Gospel of peace 'T is one great branch of the Covenant of Grace which God hath also called the Covenant of his Peace that he will write his law in our hearts and put it in our inward parts Isa 34.10 Ezek. 34.25 c. 37.26 Jer. 31.33 So that if thine be a Gospel-peace thou art transformed into the Gospel-pattern There is a change not only of some actions but of thy estate relative in thy Justification real in thy Sanctification True peace of Conscience taketh its rise from a pious sense of this change 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 5.1 1 Joh. 5.18 19 20. Q. 5. What should convinced Sinners do in distress of Conscience as are conscious to themselves that they are now in a sinful and damnable condition A Question long since ask'd and answer'd Act. 2.37 c. c. 16.30 c. Yet let it not seem amiss if I offer a few advises or directions which shall especially refer unto those two instances Direct 1. Accept of your Convictions and do not either put them off or put them out or press them down They were pricked in their heart Act. 3. But they abide the pain are not angry with Peter nor do they pluck out and throw away the arrow The Jaylor trembleth in such an agony was he of Conscience yet he attempts not either to break prison from Conscience or abuse the Preachers who were now his Prisoners or to precipitate his Comforts To this end 1. Remember whence they come from thy Spirit immediately but mediately and originally from God's holy Spirit which is first a spirit of bondage then a spirit of adoption first convinceth then comforteth the Conscience Rom. 8.15 Joh. 16.8 Will you break his bands asunder Take heed he will make them stronger if you continue to resist But â—o sweetness safety if you close and submit Isa 28.22 Job 36.8 12. If you will not accept either he 'l away on the one hand and then oh the hardness of your heart Or else add amazement to your anguish on the other hand Gen. 6.3 Isa 63.10 2. Remember their concern and whither they tend These setters are not like those of Pharaoh's Baker in order to your perdition but like those of his Butler or of Joseph's rather in order to his preferment Every pang and throw is preparatory to the new Birth to that conversion without which thou canst not see the Kingdom of God and so to those consolations which are wont to ensue upon Christ's being formed in the heart If the Spirit breaks 't is in order to binding up if he prick and launce the heart 't is in order to the health and ease of his Patient He is making way by these afflictive severities for the sweets of Adoption Hos 6.1 Act. 2.37 38. Rom. 8.15 3. Remember the consequence If you accept you are half-way over this deep ford While the Heart the Will which commands the other faculties is so far won the work is like to continue and frame well to your ease and God's ends who is ready to meet you as the Father in the Parable did his prodigal Son when he was yet a great way off Mic. 6.9 Levit. 26.41 c. Luk. 15.20 And as your business will succeed the better so your burden will sit much the lighter the more you wince the more you weaken and sin wounds you cut off advantages from Satan and are more capable of improving sound advise and the Spirit 's assistance If you do not accept see what attends Happily a great dedolence and stupidity of Conscience which is a dreadful instance of Divine justice Rom. 1.28 Prov. 1.30 But beyond a perhaps there will be greater dolor either here in the approaching arrests of an abased Conscience to repentance or hereafter in the anger astonishment and continued gnawing of an accusing Conscience to eternal ruin Hos 6.5 Prov. 5.22 23. Direct 2. Avoid those courses which will defeat thee of
in sound repentance if thou wouldst no more feel the arrows of the Almighty or hear the thundering Cannon of a terrified Conscience On to God in Christ if thou wilt return return unto me saith the Lord Jer. 7.1 There is no recovery without returning even unto him from all thine iniquity Hos 4.1 2. Return to him as the only Original of thy being as the only object that can make thee blessed Yield up thy whole self to his holy Government thy Conscience and Conversation to be ordered by his commands Return to him as thine adequate good and alone Governour Put thy whole man under his Soveraignty present thy self a living Sacrifice to him Ezek. 18.30 31 32. Rom. 6.13 17 19. c. 12.1 Mourning will not do it without turning nor this unless it be of the whole man nor this unless it be unto God Joel 2.12 13. Jer. 3.6 10. Provoke thy self hitherward put on strong and present resolutions There is no healing till thou com'st hither Till thou acknowledg thy offence and seek his face he will be not a Surgeon to repair but as a Lion to rend and tear thee Only return and there is an open remedy He that hath torn will heal thee he that hath smitten will bind thee up Ho◠5.13 14 15. 6.1 2. 2 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Act. 16.30 31. i.e. Receive him in all his Offices and with all his inconveniencles and rest on him as the Lord thy righteousness Never think that relief is possible by any other means There is not Salvation in any other There are two negatives in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Act. 4.12 But lo he is able to save to the utmost those that come unto God by him His very stripes are healing He is both medicus medicina too Not a broken heart but he can set and heal it He immediately made her straight that had been infirm and bound together for Eighteen years Heb. 7.25 Isa 53.5 Luk. 4.18 c. 13.11 12 13. And he is as willing as able He invites yea intreats poor sin-sick Souls to come in and he will cure them for nothing only requireth that they come Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Rev. 22.17 2 Cor. 5.20 Mat. 11.28 Why do not our Souls answer with the Church Behold we come And attest him with Peter Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life Joh. 3.22 Joh. 6.68 Hear thou distressed Conscience the Master calleth for thee The whole need not a Physician but they that are sick I came to call not the righteous but finers to repentance Think not thou shalt be too bold when the Physician bids thee 'T is a sinful bashfulness that stays thee from believing on Christ when he bids you to lay all your heart-troubles at his blessed feet in believing Let not your hearts be troubled believe in me Mar. 2.17 1 Joh. 3.23 Joh. 14.1 Come then thou wounded Conscience close with Christ and commit the cure into his hand who is anointed with a fulness of the Spirit for this very purpose Canst thou but touch his garment by faith thou shalt be whole To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Isa 61.1 Mat. 9.21 22. Act. 10.43 Direct 8. Assay Conscience ever and anon with some Cordials and do not add more Corrosives when thy case is so sad already They were pricked in their heart Act. 2. 16. and the Apostles would not have them abide one minute without a plaister How many a Soul is ready to swoon away under the Surgeons hand For their sakes I subjoyn this direction Say not thy bones are dried thy hope is lost thou art cut off for thy part Think rather 1. Of others deliverances who have been as greatly distressed Cannot God open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and breathe life even into your dead Souls as well as theirs Ezek. 37.11 12 13 5 6. Have not you read of such whose Couches did swim with tears who have complained their wounds did stink and in whom the arrows of the Almighty stuck fast that have lookt on themselves as laid in the lowest pit in darkness and in the deeps that have been distracted with terrors and roared by reason of the disquietness of their heart That have said their strength and their hope was perished from the Lord while they remembred their affliction and misery the gall and wormwood And yet have these been relieved refreshed and rejoyced afterward in the loving-kindness of the Lord Psal 6.6 38. 9.88.6 c. Lam. 3.18 19 c. What an instance was Paul Hast thou smarted like him was not he a monument of greater severity that was struck down to the very ground c. Or hast thou sinned like him been such a persecutor blasphemer c. Howbeit he obtained mercy And why but for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe in Christ to life everlasting Act. 9.3 4 6 c. 1 Tim. 1.13 14 16. Say then Why may not there be mercy for me too even for me Is the stock of God's mercies spent are they not infinite Manasseh Magdalen c. find mercy And why should I foresee nothing but misery 2. Think of the deliverance tendered thee The tender is universal to all and therefore to me may Conscience say Come unto me all ye that are weary c. Whosoever will let him come c. Whosoever is a thirst let him drink of the water of life freely Say why should I exclude my self whom the Scripture whom my Saviour never excluded but hath ever invited as he entertained likewise Publicans and Sinners Mat. 11.28 Rev. 22.17 Isa 55.1 Joh. 7.37 'T is but come come by faith come by repentance and upon the feet of new obedience and there is comfort for me The Draw-bridge is not up the door of grace stands open to me 3. Think of thy demerits and yet what God hath done with thee and for thee Hath not every sin deserved a death an hell How many a death and hell hast thou then deserved And yet thou art alive through his forbearance and livest upon his finding What reason hast thou then for blessing and honouring him and bearing up of hope in thee Well this distress might have been damnation These might have been the chains of the blackness of darkness I might have been now frying in easeless and endless flames But he punisheth me much less than I have deserved 'T is of his mercy that I am not consumed Ezra 9.14 15. Lam. 3.22 And why may not he further magnifie his mercy in saving me who hath so far magnified it already in sparing me He that hath reprieved me that was under the sentence of death may also pardon me if I do but press him with petitions and pursue my petitions with repentance 4. Think